Sveiki, all!

Our apologies for last week's impromptu mailer "vacation," house mending chores were calling!

A number of news services continued to carry more stories on Riga's 800th anniversary as well as reflecting back on the first 10 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

In the news:

• Riga celebrates 800th birthday
• Latvia marks Riga's 800th, says EU, NATO a must; Vaire Vike-Freiberga says only with EU and NATO membership can there security and stability
• Ten years later, Baltic states have put Russia behind; the contrast between Narva, Estonia and its twin city, Ivangorod, shows prosperity is not a question of Estonian versus Russian but Estonia versus Russia
• Sen. Lugar Says Baltics Should Be in NATO; things Baltics should participate in next year's summit in Prague
• FEATURE-Latvia's Russians carve out Baltic identity; Latvia seen more as "home," divisions remain on NATO
• U.S. senator says he supports NATO's eastward expansion; John McCain throws his hat in on Baltic membership as well
• Reuters historical calendar - September 6; the Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltics; the day passes unobserved--despite Duma proclamations as recently as 1999 that the annexation of Latvia was "legal", one cannot return what one did not possess

No link this week; however, we have taken a stab at building a picture index for our site (still a bit of a work in progress), which you are invited to peruse.

This week's picture is of a farmhouse in the Brivdabas muzejs (Open-Air Ethnographic Museum), from our "lost" collection of unpublished 1995 pictures now available through the picture index.

As always, AOL'ers, Remember, mailer or not, Lat Chat spontaneously appears every Sunday on AOL starting around 9:00/9:30pm Eastern time, lasting until 11:00/11:30pm. AOL'ers can follow this link: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

Riga celebrates 800th birthday

AP WorldStream Saturday, August 18, 2001 10:06:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
By HOWARD JARVIS

    RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- As most of Latvia, it seemed, flocked to the capital Saturday to celebrate Riga's 800th birthday, German President Johannes Rau and other visiting dignitaries praised the country's spirit and drive.
    "The pages of Latvian history are full of beauty and suffering," Rau said during a short news conference at the presidential palace with President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
    Outside the building that dates to 1515, crowds gathered in warm summer sunshine to watch musical performers, stroll along narrow cobblestone streets winding past renovated Art Nouveau buildings, and cool their thirsts with cold beer in open plazas. By midafternoon, it was 30 degrees (86 Fahrenheit).
    "Latvia has not experienced this sort of holiday before," said Iljvars Semanis, 56, a land reclamation specialist who traveled from Aluksne, 220 kilometers (136 miles) north of Riga.
    "I've come here to feel the atmosphere instead of watching it on TV," said Dace Novada, 31, a schoolteacher from Madona, 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of Riga. "It's a holiday for all Latvians."
    The official organizers, the Riga 800 Agency, projected a million Latvians would travel this weekend to the capital of 800,000. In all, that would be three-quarters of this country of 2.4 million that's located on the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Lithuania.
    Founded in 1201 as a German fortress during the Crusades, Riga has been ruled by Russians, Swedes, Danes and Lithuanians. Its Baltic Sea port was one of the most important in the Russian Empire.
    The 20-year period of independence between the two World Wars ended in 1940 with the invasion of the Red Army. The country regained independence in 1991.
    Celebrations run through Sunday and included dance performances, concerts, pizza throwing contests, wrestling, a light show over the River Daugava and fireworks.
    In his comments, made in German and translated into Latvian, Rau endorsed Latvia's aspirations to join the NATO military alliance and the European Union.
    "I affirm that Germany will do everything to create the preconditions to make Latvian membership in NATO and the European Union happen," he said.
    He also invited Vike-Freiberga to Germany on a state visit.

Latvia marks Riga's 800th, says EU, NATO a must

Reuters World Report Saturday, August 18, 2001 11:46:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.
By Anastasia Styopina

    RIGA, Aug 18 (Reuters) -- Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said on Saturday that only membership in the European Union and NATO could guarantee the security and stability of her country and its Baltic neighbours.
    Vike-Freiberga was speaking during celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the founding of Latvia's capital, Riga.
    This is the first time that the city has held centenary festivities under the flag of an independent Latvia -- a country which has been occupied over the centuries by the Soviet Union, Tsarist Russia, Sweden, Poland and Germany.
    "Only after becoming EU and NATO member states will Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia fully become part of the sphere of security and stability," Vike-Freiberga said in her speech.
    Of the two blocs, Baltic membership in NATO is the more controversial because Russia opposes any countries from the former Soviet Union joining the Western military alliance, Moscow's Cold War foe.
    The Riga 800 celebrations will culminate on Sunday, which is also the 10th anniversary of a coup launched by hardline communists in 1991, the failure of which led to the Soviet Union's collapse and the Baltic states' independence.
    Vike-Freiberga was speaking at a luncheon attended by German President Johannes Rau and the heads of state of neighbouring Lithuania and Estonia.
    The president told her guests she hoped for Germany's backing for the Baltic states' bids to join the EU and NATO.
    "We rely on Germany, as a founding EU state and a NATO member, to consistently and purposefully support the Baltic countries' joining the European Union and the North Atlantic alliance," Vike-Freiberga said.
    The three Baltic counties, occupied by the Soviet Union for half a century until 1991, are hoping NATO will hand them membership invitations at its Prague summit next year.
    The three also stand good chances of joining the EU in its next wave of expansion, which the bloc hopes will take place in time for new members to take part in elections to the European Parliament in 2004.
    Germany's president expressed cautious support earlier on Saturday for Latvia to have the possibility to join both the EU and the NATO.
    "I know that joining the EU and NATO is among Latvia's most important strategic goals. I give an assurance that Germany will do its best to help Latvia create preconditions for the possibility to join these organisations," Rau told a news conference.

Ten years later, Baltic states have put Russia behind

AP WorldStream Tuesday, August 21, 2001 2:47:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer

    NARVA, Estonia (AP) -- People living in this Estonian town have only to glance across the river at Ivangorod to remind themselves what a difference a decade makes.
    Narva and Ivangorod used to be effectively one town in one country, sharing water supplies, bus lines and a cemetery. Then the Soviet Union collapsed, the Narva River became a frontier between Russia and independent Estonia, and today a visa is needed to cross between the two.
    The Estonian side, 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of the capital, Tallinn, is a clean, industrious town of 80,000 with boutiques, newly paved streets and McDonald's. The Russian side, population some 10,000, is shabby and potholed and has no Big Macs. The average wage on the Estonian side, dlrs 300 a month, is six times bigger. When Ivangorod went bankrupt and couldn't pay its water bill, Narva cut off the flow.
    While Ivangorod languishes, Narva showcases the success story that is the Baltic republics of today.
    Independent states between the world wars, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were annexed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1940. They were the last in and the first out, following the failed 1991 coup by communist die-hards that hastened the dissolution of a superpower.
    Since then, while many of the other 12 former Soviet countries have floundered and in some cases resorted to electing unreformed ex-communists, the Baltics have faced resolutely to the West and have brought an impossible dream within reach: the prospect of membership in NATO and the prosperous, borderless European Union.
    Estonia was particularly quick to dump communism and espouse the free market under youthful leaders typified by Mart Laar, who at 32 was the youngest prime minister in Europe.
    Latvia and Lithuania didn't lag. After the Baltic economies contracted by up to 20 percent and inflation roared above 1,000 percent, the governments slashed subsidies and trade tariffs and dumped the ruble for stable new currencies.
    Inflation is now below 5 percent and foreign money is flowing in. Per capita foreign investment in Estonia is among the world's highest.
    Part of the Baltic states' good fortune is location: geographical proximity to wealthy Scandinavia and Germany left a web of trade and cultural ties that hibernated through communist isolation and were quickly revived once the Cold War ended.
    Ford, a major pre-World War II car supplier, is back in strength. Finnish-owned Tartu Olletehas is again marketing its beer here, using the same pyramid-shaped bottles as before.
    Strengthening the Baltics' Western orientation are emigres who have come back to high office. President Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania spent his life in the United States as an environmental official. Latvian President Vaira Vika-Freiberga grew up in Canada.
    The Baltic states, smaller in total area than Greece, have managed to work together closely. They have just harmonized their radar systems to get themselves into better shape for NATO membership. Their armies share the same officers' school, in Estonia. They fly their national flags on one another's independence day.
    But their 7.5 million people have had to come to terms with a lot of painful history -- Nazi occupation during World War II, bracketed by Soviet dictatorship and the enduring legacy of large Russian-speaking minorities, transplanted into the Baltics more than a generation ago to strengthen the Soviet grip.
    Much of Narva's original Estonian population, for instance, was deported to Siberia by Josef Stalin. Today its population is 95 percent Russian. Overall, one-third of the Baltic states' population of 7.5 million is of Russian origin.
    Tensions rose after the Soviet breakup over new laws designed to revive Baltic nationhood by enacting language laws and rewriting the criteria for citizenship, and there were fears of ethnic strife. But the atmosphere has eased and the laws have been watered down, in part because equality of rights is a condition for membership in the EU.
    Also, Baltic society has come to realize that it needs its Russian citizens. They staff the energy sector and most major factories. And although some Baltic Russians still complain of discrimination, most seem to want to remain where they are.
    To Julia Alasheyeva, 23, a Russian-speaking student in Latvia, Russia is a foreign country that happens to speak her language. "I don't belong to that country."
    The realignment is especially striking in the economy. Ninety percent of Baltic trade used to be with the Soviet Union. Now 75 percent is with the EU.
    Nordic investors own virtually all the main Baltic banks, most of the media and several phone companies and energy utilities. Nordic-owned ships carry millions of tourists and Estonians in and out of Tallinn's busy port each year. New glass-and-steel skyscrapers, including a Swedish-owned bank and a Radisson hotel, poke up from the city center.
    Riga, the Latvian capital that once called itself "the Paris of the north," is restoring art nouveau buildings and opening designer boutiques, restaurants and all-night dance clubs.
    "People say we're in Eastern Europe, but what does that mean when it takes 50 minutes to fly to Stockholm, two hours to London," says Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins. "We are in the middle of Europe, where we have always belonged."
    Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, also has gone hip. Not far from where Lenin's statue once stood, the city has put up a huge bronze bust of Frank Zappa, the late American rocker, who had a devoted following behind the Iron Curtain.
    In April, a Lithuanian entrepreneur opened a quirky theme park recreating the bad old Soviet days. It's surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers and features statues of Stalin and Lenin. Attendants dressed up as the two Soviet forefathers serve meals to visitors from tin cans.
    In 1999 the Latvian city of Liepaja melted down a Lenin statue to produce thousands of tiny bells for sale as souvenirs. Each features a city emblem and Lenin's face.
    Nowadays, Scandinavia represents everything that is in good working order. "Korras nagu Norras" (Clean like Norway) goes the slogan on Estonian billboards for Statoil, a Norwegian gas station chain. And all that falls short, from a cracked paving stone to a broken elevator, is "vene vark," roughly meaning "a Russian thing."
    Even the term "former Soviet republic" raises hackles. Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves insists the Baltic states be called "Nordic" or "pre-European Union."
    A growing middle class drives SUVs and is getting used to living in a property-owning democracy. Now that the banking system is solid, people are taking out 30-year mortgages on villas with tennis courts and swimming pools.
    Forty percent of Estonians have mobile phones, and more than 30 percent of households have Internet access. Its government sometimes holds Cabinet meetings online.
    But as in every former communist country, the Baltics are discovering a downside to all this upward mobility.
    Old people on pensions of less than dlrs 200 a month live in tattered Soviet-era apartment blocks. Drug abuse, crime and AIDS rates have all risen. When Lithuania realized it had no word for "condom," it held a national competition to make one up. The winner was "sargis," meaning "one that protects."
    "The success of the economy is unquestionable," says Estonian President Lennart Meri. "But for this success we've paid a price that's very characteristic of post-communist societies: unemployment and growing inequality."
    Being meshed into the world economy also has its price.
    When Sweden's LM Ericsson sold its cell phone production to a Singapore company this year, 600 Estonians lost their jobs at the Finnish-owned Elcoteq electronics plant in Tallinn.
    Still, to its neighbors to the east, Estonia is an alluring place.
    "Narva is so wonderful, so much better developed and Western-feeling compared to Ivangorod," said Olga Timov as she headed back across the river to Ivangorod after a day trip to the Estonian side.
    "Coming here is like stepping into a fairy tale."
    -- -- --
    EDITOR'S NOTE: AP correspondents Steven C. Johnson in Riga, Latvia, and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed to this report.

Sen. Lugar Says Baltics Should Be in NATO

Reuters Online Service Saturday, August 25, 2001 1:10:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA (Reuters) -- U.S. Senator Richard Lugar said on Saturday that NATO should issue invitations next year for the ex-Soviet Baltic states to join the military alliance.
    The Republican from Indiana, the most prominent proponent in the United States of NATO expansion in the run-up to NATO leaders agreeing to admit former communist states Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, said Bulgaria and Romania should be considered, even if they were to fall short of some NATO requirements.
    "Once again, I'm hopeful that they will be included even if criteria there are not met completely," Lugar told reporters.
    "They may be met in the fullness of time but the need to have the southeast corner of Europe represented is as important, as having the Baltic states in this area," said Lugar, speaking on a stop in Riga during a tour of the Baltic states.
    Asked if NATO should issue invitations for the Baltics to join at the alliance's summit next year in Prague, Lugar answered: "My own personal view is that they should be."
    Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia regained independence 10 years ago after a five-decade occupation by the Soviet Union.
    Their desires for NATO membership are controversial since Russia opposes any expansion by the alliance -- Moscow's Cold War enemy -- into the former Soviet Union.
    They were disappointed by NATO's decision to leave them out of its first post-Cold War expansion.
    In hopes of being included in the Prague round, they have been racing to boost their fledgling militaries -- which did not exist a decade ago -- to meet NATO criteria.
    "I think it is important to have objective criteria so that in fact there is compatibility of forces, that each of the Baltic states make a contribution to the total defense of all," Lugar said.
    "But at the same time that there be certainty that all three are involved and that there is literally a decision that they will be historically a part of NATO."
    Baltic diplomats have worried that Russia's objections might sink their bids to join NATO, result in a longer wait or lead to a watered down version of membership for them.

FEATURE-Latvia's Russians carve out Baltic identity

Reuters World Report Sunday, August 26, 2001 10:06:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.
By Anastasia Styopina

    RIGA, Aug 27 (Reuters) -- Yevgeny Kopytov has lived in Latvia for almost all of the 53 years of his life, although for the last decade he has not been a citizen of this or any other country. That is about to change.
    "I passed the exams, signed an oath and in about a month I should get my citizenship," Kopytov, a computer science professor, told Reuters.
    Kopytov's story is similar to those of many people who emigrated to Latvia from other parts of the Soviet Union during the five decades of Soviet rule, which ended 10 years ago this month when a coup launched by hardliners in Moscow failed.
    Kopytov moved to Latvia from Belarus with his parents in 1956. Others came from Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere.
    When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Latvia regained its independence he and about 650,000 other Russian-speaking immigrants suddenly found themselves without a country.
    Latvia decided to award citizenship only to those who had held it before Moscow invaded in 1940 and to their descendants, in an attempt to reverse decades of "Russification," even though many Russian speakers supported Latvia's independence drive.
    Starting in 1995, Latvia let non-citizens gain citizenship if they passed a language and history exam. But only a few at a time were allowed to apply, beginning with the younger ones, which left Kopytov and many others out.
    Under Western pressure -- especially from the European Union, which Latvia wants to join -- and following a national referendum in 1998, this system was liberalised.
    MANY PEOPLE BITTER
    The "windows system," as it became known due to the age limits, led to criticism by Russia that Latvia discriminated against the Russian speakers. It left many people bitter.
    Although he disagreed with the first system, Kopytov feels Latvia is home, and he was eager to become a naturalised Latvian once he could.
    "I think the first law was wrong, but I'm not the kind of person who can just stay here (without citizenship)," he said.
    Under the windows system and its successor, Kopytov and about 45,000 Russian-speakers have taken up citizenship in the last six years, leaving about 535,000 of Latvia's 2.4 million population still stateless.
    Some are unlikely ever to become citizens, either because they find naturalisation humiliating or because they will never speak the language.
    "It's hard to learn the language when your are 54, and it was not needed before 1991," said one Russian woman, who declined to be named, as she waited at the Russian embassy in Riga to apply for citizenship so she can leave.
    According to a naturalisation department survey carried out last year about 11 percent of non-citizens were considering leaving Latvia, while 71 percent had decided to stay.
    Economic factors have kept a lot of Russian speakers in Latvia, where the average monthly salary is small by European standards at $240 a month, but still better than Russia's $113.
    According to a report on poverty issued last year by the welfare ministry, nationality appears to play no role in determining wealth in Latvia.
    SOME ARE PROSPERING
    Many Russian speakers are not just getting by according to local standards -- they are prospering. One of them is Valery Kargin, president of Parex Bank, Latvia's largest bank.
    "There is a feeling that people on average are wealthier in Latvia (than in Russia)," said Kargin.
    Kargin, 40, ranks among the country's few millionaires. He says he feels a cultural connection to Russia but considers himself a Latvian patriot because he was born here. For him, the country has been a land of opportunity.
    "I am thankful for Latvia that the state has allowed me to make money and I think that the state, in its turn, has also appreciated me," Kargin said.
    However, not everyone can get ahead as an entrepreneur, and many local Russian speakers face a disadvantage on the labour market, where lack of local language skills means many cannot compete for some jobs.
    While there are no regulations for most of the private sector, proficiency in Latvian is required to hold public sector jobs.
    Still, many Russian speakers are staying and are betting that their prospects will be brighter when the country joins the European Union, which it stands a realistic chance of doing in about 2004, if all goes according to plan.
    "The factor of the EU looms ever larger in the consciousness of Russian speakers in Latvia," said Nils Muiznieks, the director of Latvia's Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies.
    POSITIVE INFLUENCE
    The EU has already been a positive influence on policies towards minorities.
    Concerns over acceptance in Brussels played a factor in the 1998 citizenship referendum and the writing of a state language law to keep requirements out of the private sector.
    "They think that the EU can discipline Latvian parliamentarians. Also Russians will be able to better compete with Latvians in Latvia within the EU," Muiznieks said.
    Surveys show Latvians and Russians favour EU entry in similar numbers, though non-citizens tend to be less supportive.
    However, on the question of NATO entry, a key Latvian foreign policy goal, there is a dramatic divide.
    Latvians, 58 percent of whom favour NATO membership, see the alliance as a security guarantee after centuries of Russian domination.
    In contrast, just 18 percent of local Russian speakers support NATO entry, many fearing this would lead to more troubles in Riga's often frosty relations with Moscow.
    With Russia in mind, some critics of Latvian minorities policy say the country is taking the wrong route by alienating the Russian speakers, who account for about one third of the population.
    "We must be clever, cautious and correct with the Russian population here so that they would not become a fifth column," said Mavrik Vulfson, a professor at the Art Academy of Latvia.
    Still, despite what some feel is a cold shoulder, many local Russians think their Baltic background -- on top of a "Baltic" accent in their mother tongue -- makes them different from Russia's Russians, even though they share cultural ties.
    "When I go to Russia I feel like a guest. In Latvia I am at home despite all the problems we face here," said Boris Tsilevich, a Russian-speaking member of Latvia's parliament.

U.S. senator says he supports NATO's eastward expansion

AP WorldStream Tuesday, August 28, 2001 5:51:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

    PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- U.S. senator and former presidential candidate John McCain said Tuesday he supports the eastern expansion of NATO and is confident that Russian objections to a broader alliance will be overcome.
    "I believe the Baltic States should be included," McCain said, referring to the NATO membership bids of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. "These are small countries, but politically, economically and militarily they will be well-qualified for NATO membership."
    McCain, a Republican presidential candidate in the 2000 election and one of the Senate's leading specialists on military issues and foreign policy, met with Czech President Vaclav Havel briefly on Tuesday as part of a brief visit to the region.
    The Czech Republic will host a key NATO summit in the autumn of 2002, when the alliance is expected to approve further expansion. Other countries in the region, including Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, also have applied for membership.
    McCain told reporters that no country should be excluded from consideration as long as they meet the criteria for membership.
    Despite talk of further expansion, Russia has steadfastly maintained its opposition to enlargement, especially in the Baltic states, which would bring NATO directly to the Russian border.

Reuters historical calendar -- September 6

Reuters World Report Thursday, August 30, 2001 4:39:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) -- Following are some of the major events to have occurred on September 6 in history [excerpt]:
    1991 -- The Soviet Union recognised the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as independent.

We haven't done the web site work, but the picture is there... a farmhouse at the Brivdabas muzejs.